


a story about birds

by okayantigone



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, The Foxhole Court-Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-18 01:17:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11280717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okayantigone/pseuds/okayantigone
Summary: Kevin tells Amalia a wondrous fairy tale about a faerie prince trapped in a kingdom of armoured birds, and their wicked king. When he manages to escape, along the way he finds a fearsome dragonslayer, a healer-in-training, a court marketing agent, and the son of a bloodthirsty dragon, and with their help, and help of all the powerful knights in a Court manages to reclaim his heart, his spine, and his lost left hand.





	a story about birds

**Author's Note:**

> I just really wanted to write a fairy tale, and I thought it would be cute to include Andrew was a slayer of dragons, and Neil as the son of one. Also, Thea breathes fire... Kinda.

Kevin loved story time. He loved sitting down next to Amalia’s bed, with the dogs at his feet, and cracking open his old volume of “Irish faery tales” or “Dublin lore”. Thea told him off sometimes, that there stories were too scary for a child, but Amalia loved them, as she loved all things when it came to her father. They’d recently watched The Princess Bride together, so the soup of the day in the last weeks was princesses, and kings and dragons and dragonslayers, which was right up Kevin’s alley, as he retold slightly modified chapters from Medieval History.

But today he didn’t feel like dragons and princesses. The anniversary of Riko’s death was approaching, surprising him from behind the corner as it did, every year, with his heart in his throat and a vague feeling of loss and guilt and fear that he could never shake. Thea said it was survivor’s guilt and it would pass. Jean left him long voicemails about the latest batch of succulents that had fallen victim to Jeremy’s gardening attempts, carefully dancing around a name neither one of them wanted to ever speak or hear again. Lydia Shetfield messaged him, without fail, offering someone to talk to, her misguided crush (On Riko? On Kevin? On both of them?) manifesting itself into what the Ravens could easily mistake for friendship. He did not take her up on it, and he never had. The year before, while cleaning out her apartment before her final and inevitable move to some far abroad country with a lot of sun, she’d sent him a box of things she’d kept over the years, making up some excuse about damage in transit, and crate numbers and storage space, but he knew, as well as she did, that those were things she would have no use of anymore, beginning her life as a pretty, prozac-hazed trophy wife on the French Riviera. Pictures of the old raven lineups, some old game plans and strageties, a few old marketing textbooks, marked up with her writing in black, and Riko’s in red, from when she’d been advising him on his extended essay. A few jerseys, not just one of Riko’s, and one of hers, but also some other teammates – she’d been a notorious T-shirt and hoody stealer. Some signed exy balls. 

Kevin wondered if it was so easy – putting it all in a box, moving to a different continent, forgetting that the person you spent years of your life with is gone. He kept all his Edgar Allan memorabilia – some in storage, some around the house. Andrew had offered – as amiably as he could – to set up a bonfire. But Kevin wasn’t ready. He hadn’t been ready. 

Always, arounf that time of the year, there were wrire-ups about Riko, and mentions in the news, of his wasted potential, stilted career, and brief clips of Tetsuji – horribly aged, talking about his greatest regret – not saving Riko. Kevin always changed the channel, but Amalia was old enough now that she asked sometimes, and because Kevin wouldn’t speak to her, Thea did, saying in a quiet voice that Riko had once been Dad’s very good friend, and it made Dad too sad to talk about him. It was close enough to the truth, that Kevin didn’t feel ready to talk about yet. He liked to pretend it was a horrible dream, those last two years. The sad part of a fairytale, before the dragon had come to save him, with a brandished sword … or how was it again? 

But Riko was on his mind. And so at story time, he didn’t reach for English Stories, or Tales about the Fae, when he sat down next to Amalia’s bed. 

“Once upon a time,” he began quietly, “not so very long ago, there was a kingdom.” 

Amalia looked up at him, all childish adoration and sparkling eyes. 

“In the kingdom, lived a boy-king, who was still very young, and an army or armoured birds.” 

“Armoured birds?” asked Amalia, giggling. 

“Oh, yes,” said Kevin. “Armoured birds, with eyes of fire, who made the wind change direction with their wings, and had iron beaks.” 

“Were they there to protect the boy king?”

“Yes, and no. They were there to serve the boy king and obey his every wish. But the boy-king did not rule yet. Instead, his kingdom was ruled by a regent. The regent appeared to be a kind and wize old man, but he was very wicked, and evil, and he didn’t want to give his power up to the king.” 

He takes a deep breath. 

“The regent sought to marry, to leng legitimacy to his rule – legitimacy – that is when something is right and proper and legal – anyway. The regent sought to marry, and attracted a foreign empress into the kingdom’s folds. She was a fairy. She was, in fact, the queen of all fairies. But she didn’t trust the Regent, because she knew him to be treacherous, even to his friends. The Regent was relentless in his pursuit of her, and offered her many riches and kindnesses. Finally, the queen of the faeries said to him “I will not come to your kingdom. But to ensure the good will between us, I will entrust you my son, as your ward, so he may grow up with your boy-king, and advise him, and be good and wise.” 

The Regent agreed to that bargain, and the queen of the faeries gave her son up to him. However, as you know, once a faerie leaves the fae realm for the human world, they can never come back.” 

“So the queen’s son could never go back to her?” 

“He could not. And so, his mother was lost to him, but she still watched over everything he did. He and the boy king became great friends, who played together, and fought together, and eventually, learned to rule over the king’s army of armoured birds.” 

“The ones that breathe fire?” 

“They have eyes of fire. But sure, they can breathe fire too, why not?”  
“So they’re like dragons … but with feathers?” 

“I guess you could say that.” 

“Dad, that’s cool!” 

“Oh yes. They were very cool. All the other kingdoms were envious of them. But we’ll talk about that later. As I was saying, the king and his friend grew very, very close. They loved each other as close as brothers would. They trusted each other. With the help of his friend, the boy king was growing into a wise, admirable man. But the evil Regent didn’t like that. He wanted to keep his kingdom, and he didn’t want the king to become too good, lest he upset the kingdom’s foundations, which were misery, anger, and pain.” 

“That’s a bad thing to build a kingdom on.”

“You said it. So the Regent took the king and told him “Your friend is deceiving you. He is a faery, and they are treacherous creatures. You must control him, or he will become stronger than you, and steal your kingdom, which I am protecting for your sake.” 

“That’s such bull!” 

“Amalia! Don’t say that word! What if your mother hears! But you’re right. It was such bull. But the king believed it. You see, the king’s greatest dream, was that one day, his kingdom would become so beautiful, and flourishing, and powerul, that the great emperor in the east – the greatest ruler of all the land, and all the other little kingdoms – would notice him, and bestow gifts upon him, and praises for his armoured birds, and the king would be presented to the emperor’s court, and given his blessing. But, if the king’s friend took over his kingdom, then the great emperor would never notice him.” 

“Why did he want the emperor to notice him so bad? Did the emperor have …” here, she lowers her voice, “secret magic?” 

“Um… yes. He had secret magic. The most secret of magic. And the king wanted it, but he couldn’t possibly get it, if he lost his kingdom. So he became cruel to his friend. He started to demand that his friend repay him the kindness of years and years of staying in his court. His friend was beginning to see that the king was turning selfish, and cruel. So first, the king took his eyes, so he would not see his cruelty anymore. Then, a prince from a different kingdom was sent to the Regent. He was also meant to learn and grow with the boys, but in his jealousy and fear, the king was cruel to him as well. So he took his friend’s voice next, so he would not speak up against his injustice. Then, he took his friend’s spine – so he would be too weak to fight him. He took his love, so he would become as hardened and cruel as the king had become. Took his heart, so there would only ever be place for the king inside it. And the king’s friend had too great a love for him to deny those things. You see, he had become blind to injustice, and he had lost his voice so he couldn’t argue, and he had no spine, so he didn’t want to argue, and he had no love, save for his love of the king, and no heart, for the King held that as well. The king tok his hearing, so he wouldn’t hear the armoured birds shrieking as they were treated cruelly, and trained to become the strongest army, that might get the king noticed by the emperor. And the king’s friend – he became, as people sometimes do when they have no eyes, and voice, and hearing, and spine or heart – he became a shadow to the king, and still, loved him very much, even when the king was cruel to him, and the other prince. And the king’s cruelty grew, for the evil treacherous Regent was poisoning his mind, and saying horrible things to him, that made him angry, and afraid.” 

“That’s awful!” 

“It was. It was very awful. Finally, a time came, when the king’s friend had nothing left to give, to pay his tax for being allowed in the kingdom. 

“I have nothing left to give you,” he said. 

“Fine,” said the King. “Then give me your left hand.”” 

“Dad! You’re left handed!” 

“So I am. Anyway – “Give me your left hand,” said the king. 

“I cannot give you my hand!” cried the king’s friend! I am a faerie, and all my magic is in my hand. 

“Give me your hand, and I will give you back your eyes and your voice,” said the king. 

“I don’t need my eyes, what good is seeing people’s suffering to me, if I don’t have my hand to heal it.” 

“I will give back your ears,” said the king, who was growing impatient. 

“I don’t need to hear the screaming of the birds, when I do not have my hand to command them with.” 

“You do not command my iron birds!” shouted the king, who had become angry. 

The evil, treacherous regent watched all that. And he said to the king “He is a faerie, and they are lying creatures, and he is lying to you. He seeks to take your kingdom away.” 

He repeated the same lie that had poisoned the king with madness, and the king, who had lost his kindness, savegly took away his friend’s hand.” 

But he had promised to give back his friend’s eyes, and voice, and ears, and a deal with faerie is unbreakable. So in the moment in which he lost his hand, the king’s friend regained all those things. And with his eyes, he saw the king he has once loved had become cruel, and unjust. With his ears, he heard the madness had taken hold of him spilling out of his mouth into horrible words. And with his voice, he said “I will leave your kingdom, and I will not return, for you have taken everything of mine that is good – my heart, and my love, and my spine, and my hand, and now that I have my eyes back, I can see the way, and I have my voice to ask for directions, and I have my ears to hear people’s kind words.” 

And so, he left the kingdom of darkness and armoured birds, who grew angered at his leaving, and breathed large columns of smoke into the air for many days. 

He travelled for a very long time, through 9 kingdoms, and in the tenth kingdom, he came upon a wisened triumvirate of rulers – a brave old warrior who had once slain dragons – “ 

“It was about time for the dragons!” 

“a healer who had the most wonderous herbs, and a witch who knew what was in your heart just by looking at you, and who exchanged truths for chocolate, for she was a funny sort of witch. 

The old warrior looked at the king’s old friend, whom we will now call, the faery prince, and said “What do you want with our kingdom? You come from the land of armoured birds, and your people are dangerous, and we want nothing to do with them.” 

“The king took my hand,” said the faerie prince, “and now I am lost.” 

“You have another hand,” said the warrior. 

“So I do,” said the faerie prince, looking at his right hand. “But I do not know how to wield my mother’s faery magic with it.” 

There, the old warrior paused. He thought about the faerie queen. In his dragon slaying days, he had once fallen upon her kingdom, and there, he had seen her, and loved her. He reminisced about her and her magic, and he resolved to help the prince learn to use his right hand to wield her powers. 

“But,” said the warrior, “I am old, and tired. So you must find another warrior to become your protector.” 

The faerie prince agreed, and went on a search for a poweful knight who would be willing to fight against the armoured birds. He crossed another nine kingdoms, and in the tenth, he found a knight, and a healer in training, and a … court marketing agent.” 

“A court marketing agent?” Amalia furrowed her brows. “I’m not sure those exist, dad.” 

“Well, neither do dragons. He was a court marketing agent, and he was very good at what he does, for he had apprenticed with a marketing agent from a different court, all the way across the ocean, in a land called Germania.” 

“Right.” 

“And, the faerie prince said “I am running from the land of armoured birds. The king has taken my left hand, but he seeks to kill me next, or bring me back and make me his shadow again. You ae very feared, and very powerful. I need your protection.” 

The warrior looked at him for avery long time, popped some bubblegum, and then said, very slowly, and with a lot of feeling. “No.” And then he said a lot of unkind words, I will not repeat. 

“The prince was not fooled. See, this warrior was under a great ancient curse, which took control of him, and at times made him so happy that he could not stop laughing and smiling, but at times, made him deeply sad. He promised the warrior that together they would find a way to lift his curse through the faerie magic that he wielded.”

The warrior thought for a very long time about it, blew some more bubblegum, ate two tubs of premium Haagen Dasz double chocolate ice cream, and then said, “I want my brother, who is a healer in training, and my cousin, who is a jester – “ 

“I thought he was a court marketing agent?” 

“Right, well, the warrior didn’t really fuss the titles, but yes. He said, “I want them to come with me.” And the faerie prince said “Very well. Let it be so.” 

And so, they went together, travelled back ten kingdoms, and in the eleventh, where the old warrior awaited, they found their new home, and lived there for one year. It was a very good year, in which the prince learned to use his magic with his right hand, and the dragonslayer ate a whole lot of ice cream, and refused to befriend any of the members of the royal court, which were all very loud and obnoxious people. There was a priestess who practiced a religion of kindness, a princess banished from her own kingdom, a couple of strong knights who headed the court, and were deeply in love, and whom the old warrior considered his own children, and there was also a knight who had become a drunk, but he was deeply in love with the foreign princess, and for her, he was going to forsake all the drink in the world. 

The court was in peace for that year.” 

“That’s boring!” 

“But then, the faerie prince, while watching the uh …. magical…. cross-kingdom … information …. bulletin…. That, right, while watching that, he saw a young knight, and was impressed with his speed and skill. 

“We must bring him to your court!” he said to the old warrior. And so, they did. 

The young knight was happy there, but he had a terrible secret. His father was one of the dragons in service of the great emperor, and he was the most terrifying and bloodthirsty dragon of all, and the young knight sought to hide from him and escape him. He saw that the dragonslayer was pritecting the prince, and the dragonslayer offered him protection in exchange for truth. The young knight agreed. 

When the king – the faerie prince’s old friend – heard of that, he became enraged, for he had known the son of the dragon once, and he had been promised him. He sent his armies their way, and managed to kill the drunkard knight, causing great sorrow to the foreign princess. He attempted to crush the dragonslayer, and then he sent the emperor’s dragon to his son. He threatened and intimidated the prince, but the prince, who was a faerie, after all, and faeries are resourceful creatures, managed to steal his spine back, and stand up to him. 

The king was so surprised by this, that all he felt in that moment was rage, and his rage he attempted to do something awful, and as he did, the emperor’s son saw him. And the emperor’s son raised his powerful hand, and used the emperor’s secret magic to stop him, and banish him into the world of the dead.” 

“So he killed him?” 

“Yes. And then, he met with the knight, and the prince, and he promised them his protection, in exchange for a small tax, as all subjects have to pay their kings, and they had little choice, so they agreed. With the death of the evil king, the faerie prince also reclaimed his heart, and his love. Armed with them, he went to the old warrior, and confessed finally, what he had known for a while- the old warrior was his father, from that time he fell into the faerie realm.”

“Did everyone live happily ever after?” 

“More or less,” Kevin said. “The young knight, and the dragonslayer ran away together on the back of a magic carpet they aquired illegally. The court marketing agent went back to his mentor in the land of Germania. The foreing princess managed to recover from the loss of her drunkard knight, and start an inter-kindom business to drown her sorrows. The kind priestess went back to the land of armoured birds, and saved the other prince who had been ward of the regent, and helped him settle into the kingdom of sunshine. The dragonslayer’s brother became a great healer, and married a princess from a different kingdom. And they all lived happily ever after. Any questions?” 

Amalia looked at him for a ver long time, his hands clasped in his lap. He looked right back at her. 

“Was mom one of the armoured birds?” 

Kevin smiled, and then smiled more. 

“She was. And, with his love and spine restored to him, the faerie prince, who claimed his mother’s title, and became the faerie queen, went to her, and asked her to marry him. And she breathed some fire in my face for a little bit, but then she said yes, and so, here we are.” 

Amalia laughed, clapping her hands. And jumped off the bad to embrace him, burying her face in his neck. 

“You must have loved him very much,” she said quietly. 

“I did. He could have been a very great man. But it doesn’t matter now, because I have you, and mom, and Andrew, and Neil, and all the other foxes.” 

“I’m glad I have you too, Dad!” she hugged him again. He hugged back, and felt like never letting go. Briefly, he imagined Thea might kill him for keeping her up so late, but the story was told. He might even be able to tell her the fuller version, one day.


End file.
